1-Phenyl-4-(2-tetraly)butane and 1-phenyl-4(1-tetralyl)butane, both known as PTB, are known compounds which are obtained by treating 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene (tetralin) with a strong acid catalyst: ##STR1##
This reaction is discussed in Ber. 57B, 1990 (1924) and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,336,407 where it is pointed out that not only PTB, but other reaction products as well, such as sym-octahydroanthracene (OHA) and sym-octahydrophenanthrene (OHP) are formed. OHA and OHP are known to be plasticizers for polystyrene (U.S. Pat. No. 2,289,743 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,454,851) but, because of their high volatility they would be of little value for most plasticizer applications in polyvinylchloride (PVC) resins due to unacceptably low levels of permanence resulting from evaporative losses. Also obtained in this reaction is some small amount of 2,6-bitetralyl along with minor amounts of other products. Other related art discussing such reactions is includes L. I. Smith and C. Lo. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 70., 2209 (1948) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,336,407 (1967).
PTB has been found to be an effective plasticizer for polyvinylchloride (PVC) resins and such use is the subject matter of U.S. Ser. No. 385,958 filed of even date herewith.